Thursday, July 20, 2017

Fantasy Swords. For many of us this was the first foray into
the world of arms and armor ownership. The out of this world and awe-inspiring
designs of these blades made them an attractive first purchase. In many cases
the swords where replica models of popular blades from film, books and
television (like J. R. R. Tolkien's Sting or the sword of Blade from the Marvel
movie series) making them even more desirable. While these blades tend to hold
a sentimental place in the heart, eventually a person wants something more to
cut with. In short, most fantasy swords can only serve as decorative swords.

Typically, a decorative sword is one that does not have a
high enough quality of steel to be suitable for cutting or combat. Many
decorative swords have stainless steel blades. This allows them to require
little maintenance to ward off rusting but also is too soft or brittle a steel
to withstand abuse. Of course there are exceptions to rule, Twinkle and Icing
Death from the books of R. A. Salvatore were made in high carbon steel, capable
of holding a beautiful edge. There is also a case for arms made of great steel
being strictly decorative swords, the jewel encrusted ceremonial swords of
kings, sultans and the like. Whatever your preference in fantasy swords,
whether it be decorative swords or functional swords, know that Museum Replicas
supports them all!

Friday, July 14, 2017

As
arms and weapons evolved knights could find themselves in situations where they
might enter a battle on horseback but leave it on foot, thus the needarose for a sword that was short enough to
wield on foot and yet long enough to reach targets from horseback. Enter the
longsword, which was really just a longer and heavier version of the typical
sword. These blades were effective against plate armored foes as well as being
devastating against lightly armored soldiers. Used with two hands, they
generated power; however, knights sometimes preferred to use them with one hand
and kept a shield in the other. The biggest longswords were known as great
swords whose sheer size made them ineffective on horseback. However, great
swords saw infantry action from the 13th century up to the early Renaissance
and are viewed as the predecessors to the two-handed swords.

Contrary
to popular belief, two-handed swords are not medieval weapons and differ from
both longswords and great swords. Technically, the two-handed sword belongs to
the Renaissance period. It was popular during the 16th century with Swiss and
German infantrymen. These swords could be over six feet long and even at a
relatively light 4 –6 lbs, you had to be a preternaturally strong human
specimen to brandish it effectively with one hand. The German Zweihander was
one such sword. The English Slaughter-sword was another. These weapons had
surprisingly good balance and were destructive with wide sweeping blows.
Primarily used to counter long weapons such as halberds and pikes, their great
length meant that two-handed swords could also take the role of spears. Of
course, only the stongest wielded them and these men were duly compensated
(sometimes paid twice the regular soldier’s salary) for their troubles.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

July 16th! Game of Thrones season 7 is finally arriving and
there are quite a few of us here at Museum Replicas feeling the excitement!

Of
course, our history with the franchise makes it easy to enjoy. Even after our
licensed line ran its course, we still can't part with the wonder of author
George R.R. Martin's book series. It could be that that has something to do
with how often we see ourselves in the series. For instance, the Dothraki
raider knives that seem to be poking out of the sashes/belts of warriors like
Qotho. Recognize those distinct handles? It's hard to hide the profile of the
Raven Claw Fighting Knife. Although his actions were deplorable, the daggers
carried by Karl Tanner in season 3 were in great taste. The orchestrator of the
mutiny at Crastor's carried both the Poignard and the Soldier's Dagger (on
closeout!). We even did some custom costume work, too! See those nice
breastplates worn by the soldiers of house Tyrell? The moment may have been
brief, but the armor still had time to shine! There are probably far more
examples that I have yet to notice, what have you seen that looks familiar?